Harare Review of Books

120 pages.

Expected publication date: Mar. 21, 2023 (Yale University Press)

Poetry.

I’m always a little nervous about poetry, because I feel like I don’t know how to read contemporary poetry. But this doesn’t seem to stop me from trying. In this case, I needn’t have worried: Daniel’s poetry is intriguing, and visceral, and does not need an arts education to access. I did find that the notes at the back helped, but perhaps only as an exhibition pamphlet might tell you a bit about the artist’s motivation. The poems have a voice of their own, and will speak directly even to a sceptic (or illiterate) like me.

So you know what to expect: this is poetry that’s dark, and thrilling. I already have snippets, lines playing around in my head, but I know what I will do with this book; I will take it with me the next time I go somewhere unusual, and spend time with its words, to see what new things it will say to me. For now, here are my impressions: hauntedness and ghosts, southern Gothic, the ongoing conversations across the Black Atlantic, death, hell, chaos, and extinction.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Yale University Press for this ARC.